1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a method of forming an antifuse and the resulting structure which includes a fin structure that can be converted from an insulator into a permanent conductor through a heating process.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fuses and antifuses are useful in today's integrated circuit devices to selectively connect and disconnect devices from other portions of the circuit, as well as to provide logical operations. For example, a fuse is often activated (blown, opened, etc.) in order to disrupt or break an electrical connection. Similarly, a fuse can be blown to dramatically increase the resistance of a circuit, thereby providing a logical distinction between the activated and unactivated fuse device.
Antifuses operate in an opposite manner to that of fuses. Thus, antifuses are generally non-conductive (highly resistive) when unactivated (unblown) and become conductors when activated (blown). Therefore, when an antifuse is activated, it forms an electrical connection, as opposed to a fuse which breaks an electrical connection when activated. Thus, an antifuse selectively allows a conductive connection to be made to selectively connect portions of a circuit together, thereby potentially engaging a previously disconnected device into a circuit. Similarly, an antifuse provides different resistance values which can be utilized to perform logical operations.
Once a fuse or antifuse is activated, the fuse generally cannot be unactivated. Therefore, the activation is generally a one-time event and is used to permanently modify a circuit. Low process cost and relatively high density are required for fuses and antifuses. Electrically blowing metal fuses is one conventional method for activating a fuse, but requires precise electrical and physical control to be reliable. The invention described below provides much smaller and easily activated antifuses and methods for making the same.